A Resetera user discovered that Nintendo's Japanese website had removed the direct link to the last Pokemon Direct sometime between February 23rd and today. In each of the last two years, the removal of an old Pokemon Direct from Nintendo's website was a precursor to Nintendo releasing a new Pokemon Direct.

Presuming that history repeats itself, this means that we'll get a Pokemon Direct....which means the announcement of a new main series Pokemon game. In this case, that means the formal announcement of the Pokemon Switch game, which Nintendo announced was in development last year at E3.

In all likelihood, if a Pokemon Direct is going to happen, it'll be before March 23rd. Pokken Tournament DX is set to release a new DLC featuring Blastoise as a playable fighter on that date, so Nintendo could advertise that, the Detective Pikachu 3DS game, and the Pokemon Switch game all in the same date.

While some may question the timing of a possible Pokemon Direct because a Nintendo Direct just happened yesterday and E3 is coming up in early June, remember that Nintendo typically makes its Pokemon announcements separate from other Nintendo Direct. Pokemon X & Y and Pokemon Sun and Moon both received full Pokemon Directs separate from any other announcements, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon got a separate Direct to explain how it was different from Pokemon Sun and Moon. Plus, a Pokemon Switch announcement would overshadow anything else Nintendo wanted to showcase, so it would make sense to make the announcement separately.

Nintendo has reportedly wanted a Pokemon game for the Switch to come out in 2018, in part to help push Nintendo Switch sales even higher. The announcement of a Pokemon Switch game along with the Super Smash Bros. game would give Nintendo the potential for a record-breaking holiday season. A March announcement would almost definitely mean a holiday 2018 release date for the game.

We still don't know much about the Pokemon Switch game, other than it's in active development. While there are rumors that the game could be a "total reboot" of the franchise, it's more likely that the game will be a more advanced version of the time honored formula that has made Pokemon a success over the last 20 years.

Stay tuned for more news, Pokemon fans. March could turn into a pretty huge month for the franchise.

Posted: Mar 10, 2018 7:50 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: http://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/03/09/pokemon-direct-2018-rumor/